You found me
by redheadturkey
Summary: After a night at the Seventh Heaven where Reno reveals something he shouldn't while drunk, Rude discovers there is more depth to his partner than he'd thought.


_I found God on the corner of 1st and Amistad  
Where the West was all but won  
All alone, smoking his last cigarette  
I said, "Where you been?" He said, "Ask anything"_

The night at the Seventh Heaven had proven to be one of those things that Reno had severe regrets over because he never knew how to keep his mouth shut when he was that drunk. He could hear Rude coming in behind him, and as he did, he looked up at his partner.

"What's your deal?" Rude asked, his stance disapproving, but then again his partner hated when he got like this, hated the cold way he treated women, hated his self-destructive behavior. "Spurting about Yuffie like that certainly wasn't one of your more intelligent moments."

_Where were you when everything was falling apart?  
All my days were spent by the telephone that never rang  
And all I needed was a call that never came  
To the corner of 1st and Amistad_

Reno just shook his head, and took another pull off the bottle of scotch in his hand. "I never told you what happened back during the Zirconade crisis, did I? That was what changed. ..everything." Another pull off the bottle, and he closed his eyes. Back during those moments when Yuffie had been yelling at him for just spurting out that he'd slept with her like that, It hadn't been Yuffie in his mind's eye. "It's why every girl I've been with has been brunette. . .why most of them are fighters. . ."

He'd been 16 when they'd met, still a little innocent despite his upbringing, out of his uniform because he didn't wear the thing when he was off duty, he was normally in t shirts and jeans, with a heavy leather jacket that had a patch of the Kalm Mariners baseball team logo stitched on the back of it. Coffee shop, near the fountain in Loveless Square, her smile had been almost blinding.

Several months passed, more secret meetings, and even though there were mornings Reno was late for work, he was happier than he'd ever been in his life for those few months.

_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me  
Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded  
Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?  
Just a little late, you found me, you found me_

Then. .. he'd been assigned to track the members of AVALANCHE, not the one now, with Barrett and Cloud and Tifa that were attempting to do right by the planet even If they and ShinRa butted heads almost constantly, but the ruthless one, run by Fuhito and Sears that hunted down and killed people working for ShinRa down to people who were clerks and secretaries. When he finally found their hideout. . .and saw his beautiful girl, the one who had stolen his heart, who had given him purpose even in the midst of the turmoil his life had been, training troops for AVALANCHE, it felt as if his heart shattered into a thousand pieces, right there in that alleyway.

_But in the end everyone ends up alone  
Losing her, the only one who's ever known  
Who I am, who I'm not and who I wanna be  
No way to know how long she will be next to me_

"Elfe, ya gotta stop this." That night, in his apartment above the plate, instead of taking her into ShinRa he'd brought her home, hoping that given a chance she'd explain why she was doing this and do something. . .anything so that he could keep her free. Their lips had met, and as they tumbled into his bed together in a tangle of pale limbs and desperate mouths he knew there was no going back. Someone's heart was going to get broken that night, even as much as he hated it, he knew it was true.

The next morning, after a desperate night of making love and Reno hoping, just once, that something he said would make some sort of difference, that someone would listen, he woke to find his bed empty, she hadn't even left a note.

_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me  
Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded  
Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?  
Just a little late, you found me, you found me!_

The early morning, the city breaks  
And I've been calling for years and years and years and years  
And you never left me no messages  
You never sent me no letters  
You got some kind of nerve taking all I want!

When the battle with Zirconade came, he recognized that face, he knew who it was, and that just hurt even worse, cut deep. And he couldn't say anything, because Hell, the girl had been the boss' daughter, and how fucked up and selfish of him would it be to bitch when Veld had lost so much more in the whole mess? So Reno had held it in, and over the years it had festered, become an infection that had colored every relationship he'd had with women ever since.

"So that's my deal, Rude. . .she fuckin' left my ass, high and dry. I gave her fucking _everything_! Every single bit of my love, fuckin' devotion. I fuckin' _trusted_ her, and you see where that left me." He took another deep swig of the scotch before throwing it against the wall of his bedroom. "So I'm sorry if I'm an insensitive asshole, but I'm sick o'bein' hurt, an' lettin' people in. . .trustin' 'em. . .aside from you guys, aside from my family. . .hurt's all it's ever gotten me."

_Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me  
Lying on the floor, where were you? Where were you?_

Lost and insecure, you found me, you found me  
Lying on the floor surrounded, surrounded  
Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?  
Just a little late, you found me, you found me!

Why'd you have to wait to find me, to find me?

There, on his dresser, was a photo that had moved with him everywhere, a photo of a much younger him, his arm draped over the shoulder of a brown haired teen age girl, and they were both looking into the camera, smiling, a diamond gleaming from her left ring finger.


End file.
